Give them, O Lord – what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry, and breasts that cannot nurse! ¹ 

Therefore they will disappear like ¹  the morning mist, ²  like early morning dew that evaporates, ³  like chaff that is blown away ⁴  from a threshing floor, like smoke that disappears through an open window.

At that time, ¹  I will destroy the military power ²  of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

“At that time,” ¹  declares the Lord, “you will call, ²  ‘My husband’; ³  you will never again call me, ⁴  ‘My master.’ ⁵ 

“At that time ¹  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish ²  the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare ³  – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.” ⁴ 

Ephraim boasts, ¹  “I am very rich! I have become wealthy! ²  In all that I have done to gain my wealth, ³  no one can accuse me of any offense ⁴  that is actually sinful.” ⁵ 

“At that time, ¹  I will willingly respond,” ²  declares the Lord. “I will respond to the sky, and the sky ³  will respond to the ground;

Therefore, I will soon ¹  fence her in ²  with thorns; I will wall her in ³  so that ⁴  she cannot find her way. ⁵ 

He will restore ¹  us in a very short time; ²  he will heal us in a little while, ³  so that we may live in his presence.

They do not realize ¹  that I remember all of their wicked deeds. Their evil deeds have now surrounded them; their sinful deeds are always before me. ² 

Yet it was I who led ¹  Ephraim, I took them by the arm; but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them. ² 

They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers. ¹ 

Yet ¹  until now ²  she has refused to acknowledge ³  that I ⁴  was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who ⁵  lavished on her the silver and gold – which they ⁶  used in worshiping Baal! ⁷ 

So will it happen to you, O Bethel, ¹  because of your great wickedness! When that day dawns, ²  the king of Israel will be destroyed. ³ 

Israel was a fertile vine that yielded fruit. As his fruit multiplied, he multiplied altars to Baal. ¹  As his land prospered, they adorned the fertility pillars.

For ¹  I will remove the names of the Baal idols ²  from your lips, ³  so that you will never again utter their names!” ⁴ 

That idol was made by a workman – it is not God! The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.

Where ¹  then is your king, that he may save you in all your cities? Where are ²  your rulers for whom you asked, saying, “Give me a king and princes”?

I will destroy her vines and fig trees, about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution ¹  that my lovers gave to me!” I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ²  into an uncultivated thicket, so that wild animals ³  will devour them.

Ephraim has mixed itself like flour ¹  among the nations; Ephraim is like a ruined cake of bread that is scorched on one side. ²